Soap Noodles

Soap noodles are produced through alkali saponification of oils and fats, and
alkali neutralization of distilled fatty acids blends from the oleo chemical
industry. Alkali neutralization of distilled fatty acids is a much cleaner
manufacturing practice compare with alkali saponification of oils and fats.
Traditionally tallow-based soap is prepared by means of alkali saponification
of the triglycerides, but with the new technology, soap manufacturers use the
new neutralization route to prepare the soap base. Palm-based soap is
normally manufactured through neutralization of fatty acids; however, soap
production from oil route is still being practised by some manufacturers. The
quality of soap noodles produced is dependent on the quality of raw materials.
The choice of raw materials will depend on several factors such as the
acceptable cost range, manufacturing capabilities of the producers and the
targeted properties of the products.

The performance of the products depends on the ratio of the various fatty
acids in the blend. Even though soap contains the range of fatty acids from
C12 – C18 hydrocarbon, the proportion of these fatty acids has to be in a
correct ratio to produce a product of good performance. Some of the
characteristics of fats and oils used in soap making is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Characteristics of fats and oils.

Fat /Oil Titer C IV SV MIU (%) GLY (%)
Coconut 22 10 260 1.0 13
Tallow 42 45 196 0.6 10
Palm 25 16 250 101 12
Kernel
Palm 42 53 200 1.0 10
Lard 38 61 195 0.6 10
“Ideal” 36-38 38-40 215-225 -
IV = Iodine value; SV = Saponification value; MIU = Moisture, insolubles,
unsaponifiable; GLY = Glycerine
Toilet Soap
A variety of commercial soaps are available in the market, but the major uses
are for toilet, laundry and household purposes. Toilet soaps are milled soap
with about 70 – 80% total fatty matter. The commonly used ratios of fatty
acids by the industry are 80C16-C18: 20C12-C14, 75C16-C18: 25C12-C14
and 70C16-C18: 30C12-C14. For tallow-based soaps the ratios of fatty acids
are 88T:12CNO 85T:15CNO, 80T:20CNO, 70T:30CNO and 50T:50CNO.
Palm-based soaps are usually made of 80PO:20PKO, 75PO:25PKO and
70PO:30PKO. Some other blends are 40PO:40T:20PKO,
40PO:40POs:20PKO and POs:PKOo.

Country specification states the requirement for toilet soap and that the
products should conform to the specifications. Table 2 showed the
specification requirement of some countries. The common factors are that
soap should contain total fatty matter of  70% and free caustic content of
0.05%. Another parameter, lauric oils fatty acid content is a requirement in
the British specification for one type of soap. This requirement most probably
takes into account superfatting of soaps, which is a common practice by most
soap manufacturers.

Soap noodles
Based on the specifications of various countries, palm-based soap
manufacturers produced toilet soap noodles with characteristics listed in
Table 3. The data was based on a survey of palm-based soap noodles
collected from the manufacturers. The total fatty matter of the soap noodles is
 70%, free caustic  1%, chlorides < 1%, alcohol insoluble < 1% and an
average free acid of 0.08%. Table 4 showed the technical specification of
palm soap base from one of the manufacturers. In Table 4 it is noted that the
total fatty matter ranges from 78 - 82%. The specification also indicates the
availability of soap superfatted with acidic additive such as lauric oil fatty acid
or stearic acid, which causes the free acid to be 1.3%.
Table 2. Soap specifications from several countries.

Requirements
Parameters British India Australia Malaysia
Type Type B Type S Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 (1976)
A
Total Fatty
Matter % m/m 78.0 76.5 79 76 70 60 70 76.5
(min)

Rosin acids % 2 2 2 3 7 7 - 3
m/m (min)
Moisture and
volatile matter - - - - - - 17.0 -
% (min)
Matter
insoluble in 1.25 2.5 2.0 2.5 5.0 6.0 2.5 2.5
ethanol %
m/m (max)
Free caustic
(as Na2O) 0.05 0.05 Not 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.1 0.05
alkali % m/m applicable
(max)
Chloride
content NaCl) 0.7 0.8 1.2 1.5 1.5 1.5 - 0.8
% m/m (max)
Lauric oils
fatty acid 13.0 No 13.0 - - - - -
content. Require
Expressed as ment
content of fatty
acids derived
from lauric
oils, calculated
on total fatty
matter, % m/m
(min)
Table 3. Characteristics of soap noodles from palm base.

Parameters Range Average STDEV C.V. (%)

Moisture (%) 8.61 – 15.65 11.43 1.3 11

Free acid (%) 0.30 – 1.79 0.80 0.4 53

Free caustic (%) 0.04 - 0.05 0.45 0.07 16

Total free caustic (%) 0.03 – 0.09 0.06 0.04 71

Chloride (%) 0.33 – 0.80 0.5 0.09 17

Total fatty matter (%) 73.6 – 87.1 80.0 1.75 22

Rosin (%) 0.01 – 0.75 0.3 0.24 90

Alcohol insoluble 0.05 – 0.63 0.18 0.15 87

Foamability initial (mL) 300 - 455 364 40.5 11

Foamability after 5 mins 125 – 315 195 43 22

pH 9.9 – 10.2 10.0 0.11 1.1